Major League Baseball tossed the financially flagging Mets a $25 million lifeline late last year in a bid to shore up the cash-strapped team as it faces claims from Bernard Madoff victims, sources told The Post.

“We did receive a loan from Major League Baseball in November,” the team admitted in a statement yesterday. “Beyond that, we will not discuss the matter any further.”

Sources inside MLB said the value of the loan was $25 million.

The situation has gotten so bad that the Mets are now willing to sell up to a 49 percent stake in the franchise — double what the owners had previously indicated.

Sources said the Mets had desperately reached out to MLB after its beleaguered owner Fred Wilpon was told by the trustee charged with clawing back ill-gotten Madoff gains that the team could be on the hook for as much as $1 billion.

Trustee Irving Picard later filed suit against the Mets, saying its owners should have known that Madoff’s inflated returns were too good to be true.

Sources yesterday said MLB Commissioner Bud Selig personally signed off on loaning the money to the Mets — and that he may have approved more than $25 million from his discretionary fund.

The last time MLB made such a loan, to the Texas Rangers, Selig first told owners it was for about $25 million — and later, when the Rangers went bankrupt, it was revealed it was for $40 million.

The Mets are a staggering $430 million in debt. The team lost about $50 million last year alone when including interest payments on that debt, and bonds paid to New York City for Citi Field.

And the team is truly tapped out. They have borrowed all they can from their lender, JPMorgan, and have maxed out their existing MLB credit line that’s been pegged at $75 million.

Opening an other line of credit at this point would be nearly impossi ble, analysts say.

Wilpon and his partners are scram bling to line up an investor to purchase a share of the team in the wake of the Picard suit, although he and his son Jeff have insisted that they will maintain majority ownership.

Twelve different parties have already stepped up to the plate and asked MLB for approval to bid for a stake in the team.

A source said Mark Cuban, who bid for the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers, is not among them.

Those who get the OK may make preliminary offers by the end of March.

The Post reported exclusively this month that JPMorgan is already trying to sell part of its loan to distressed investors, but sales to hedge funds need approval from MLB and that has proven hard to get.

Part of MLB’s concern is if distressed investors buy the Mets debt, they could force the team into bankruptcy.